828 ekythb.ea: in the isle of wioht. 



imcrted at the base of the corolla-tube ; upper part of the ovary exserted 

 beyond the month of the coroUa at the time of flowering. Annual, 

 flowering in August. The outer bracts sometimes produce from 

 their axils a long- stalked secondary cluster of flowers. 



From this description it will be seen that the plant differs 

 from all our Ki'i/thrwas by the stamens, i.e., the filaments, being 

 inserted at the base, of the corolla-tube, and free throughout 

 the rest of their length, — a character which would take the 

 plant out of the genus as described by Griesbach in De Candolle's 

 ' Prodromus.' In other respects the plant j)i'esents a somewhat 

 intermediate character between E. littoralis, Fries, and dwarf 

 E. Ceutaurium, Pers. The leaves are narrower than those of 

 E. Centaufium, and the calyx equals or exceeds the corolla-tube at 

 the time of flowering ; thus approaching E. littoralis. But the 

 length of the calyx, as compared with that of the corolla-tube, is 

 mconstant in both A'. Gentaarium and E. j^itlchella, dwarf specimens 

 of both these latter species frequently having the calyx as long as 

 the corolla tube, though it is shorter in the normal forms. The 

 upper bract-like leaves immediately beneath tbecorymb are broader 

 at the base, one or two of them usually equalling or exceeding the 

 flowers ; this character again connects our plants with E. littoralis 

 rather than with E. CentauriiDii or E. pulchella. The bracts are 

 obtuse-apiculate, those of the two last-named species being acute. 

 About one-fourth of the upper part of the ovary is exserted beyond 

 the mouth of the corolla-tube at the^ time of flowering, while in 

 E. Centaurium and E. pulchella it is wholly concealed within the 

 corolla-tube. I do not know what the comparative length of the 

 ovary is in E. littoralis. The corolla tube is so nearly of the same 

 colour and form as E. Centaurium that no distinctive character can 

 be drawn from it. : 



In height the plant is from one to three inches, and it grows 

 in company with densely-flowered compact dwarf forms of both 

 E. Centaurium and E. pulchella of a similar height. Our plant 

 could not be confounded with the latter species ; it might be with 

 the former, though a careful botanist could never be in doubt when 

 he had the plant in his hand. It grows in plenty on the Downs 

 both to the east and west of Freshwater. 'I failed to find it east- 

 ward of Afton and Compton Downs, but to the west its range 

 extends to the Needles and Alum Bay. I think it very probable 

 that it is inpartihe E. littoralis oi Br. Bromfield's ' Flora Vectensis,' 

 the stations for which he gives as '/ Alum Bay, between Grove's 

 Hotel and the sea," " Headon Hill, within twenty yards of Mr. 

 Ward's cottage," *' Sea-banks near Compton." 



Mr. A. G. More, in his ' Supplement ' to ' Flora Vectensis,' 

 page 15,"''' writes as follows: — '' Erythrma Centaurium, Jj., var. 

 cajiitata, Poem, et Sch. — On Freshwater Down and in the warren 

 at Alum Bay, plentifully. This is, I believe, the plant given 

 in ' Flora Vectensis ' as E. littoralis, which I have not succeeded in 

 finding in the Isle of Wight." Does Mr. More's var. capitata 

 include the plant which is the subject of this notice ? He gives no 



* ' Journ. Dot.,' 1871. p. 107. 



